GAZA
CITY, January 24 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – A few hours
after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said a ceasefire between
resistance factions and Israel was imminent, a senior Israeli official
said Tel Aviv was only interested in an “interim” peace accord
with the Palestinians.
Israeli
Premier Ariel Sharon’s senior adviser Zalman Shoval told Reuters on
Sunday, January 23, that Israel was seeking an “interim peace
accord” with Abbas, seeing him as unyielding on core disputes.
“There
will be no final accord in our generation, in my opinion,” said the
Israeli official.
“On
the major issues, Abu Mazen (Abbas) will not be able to compromise any
more than (late president Yasser) Arafat. That being the case, it is
clear that negotiating on a final accord now would be a recipe for
disaster.”
Shoval
claimed that both the Palestinian and Israeli sides “have an
interest in putting this off to another time.”
He
also spoke of a vision of a provisional Palestinian state in the West
Bank and Gaza Strip.
Abbas,
whose election stirred peacemaking optimism, has come out against
interim deals that Palestinians fear would leave them only a
fragmented entity with Israel in control of its borders.
“Partnership
cannot be achieved by dictates, and peace cannot be reached by partial
or interim solutions,” Abbas said in his inaugural speech earlier
this month.
Commenting
on Shoval’s statements, Palestinian Negotiations Minister Saeb
Erekat said his people would not accept interim deals, asserting that
the internationally-back roadmap blueprint envisages the establishment
of an independent Palestinian state by 2005.
“I
don't think there is room for an interim period. It is time for the
end game, time for the final status treaty,” Erekat told Reuters.
Narrowing
Differences
Hamas
said Monday, January 24, it had narrowed differences with Abbas on his
call for a ceasefire but reiterated that it would not call a truce
without a reciprocal move by Israel.
“We
have reached in principal agreement on important issues and the
differences are very narrow,” Mushir Al-Masri, a Hamas spokesman,
told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“Everyone
on the Palestinian side is determined to have a collective
position,” he added.
However,
Masri said Israel could not expect calm to prevail for free.
“Of
course there can be no talk of a ceasefire without a price being paid
by Israel,” he said.
“But
if the conditions announced by Abu Mazen and the factions are met,
then the movement will deal positively with the subject of the hudna
(truce). These conditions represent a bottom line for the Palestinian
people.”
Masri
confirmed that the discussions with Abbas had focused on political
participation, including the idea of Hamas joining the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO).
“Several
were discussed, including the internal situation, corruption and
political participation inside the PLO and the Palestinian
Authority,” he added without giving further details.
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Palestinian watches interview with Abbas on television. (Reuters)
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Following
a series of marathon talks with leaders of the resistance factions in
Gaza, Mazen told the Palestinian television that inter-Palestinian
dialogue had made “very significant” progress.
“We
will reach an agreement concerning this ceasefire very soon.”
But
the newly elected Palestinian Authority president also demanded Israel
to show flexibility by calling a halt to its deadly incursions and
freeing Palestinian prisoners.
“There
are also responsibilities on the Israeli side,” he said.
“They
should put an end to attacks against our people, cities and villages,
stop going after our wanted people, return people who have been
deported to their home towns and give priority to the prisoner
issue.”
Israel's
powerful Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that the onus
should be completely on the Palestinians to end attacks and that there
was no need for Israel to make any reciprocal gesture.
Sharon
said Sunday Israel would not hesitate to do “all that is
necessary” and implement plans for a large-scale invasion of Gaza if
the resistance attacks resumed.
A
unilateral truce declared by Palestinian resistance factions on June
29, 2003, collapsed after Israeli forces assassinated
Ismail Abu Shanab, a Hamas political leader.
Palestinian
factions said that by assassinating Abu Shanab Israel killed
stone dead the three-month ceasefire.
